I’m back. It’s been a long time, lots has happened while I’ve been away – but here I am, maybe just for one or two posts….who knows! Depends on loads of stuff, especially whether I feel like writing/rambling/taking pictures. Anyway here I am for now – send me some inspirational words if you have time.
Last November my lovely friend, Ms B, and I took a short break in London. She lives in Cornwall, I live in Scotland….so we don’t see each other often except on What’s App, but we’ve managed to keep in touch since I left Cornwall nearly 10 years ago and I love spending time with her when we can get together. We used to go out walking in Cornwall back in the good old days, and we were chatting over a glass or two of wine one evening about how much we miss those walks – and I found myself agreeing to a challenge in 2025…..its that 1000 mile thing again, that thing that I’ve always said I’ll do and have never quite achieved! I’m almost afraid to post this ….1000 miles in 2025 – boots-on walking, meandering barefoot, ricketyrambling along the road – it all counts!
I started on 1st January and its been tough going so far – the weather was shockingly miserable to start with, it was a long, dark and cold winter, Storm Eowyn blew in causing havoc, and I sprained my ankle in week 1! I’m plodding on, not meeting my monthly target but hoping I can catch up now the weather is improving. So get your boots out and your sunhats on and join me – send me a message so I can spur you on – set your own goal and get walking!
You can sign up for the actual Walk 1000 Miles challenge with Country Walking Magazine and join all the Facebook groups and get badges and stickers and things if you are inclined. I’m just going it alone with Ms B cheering me on and joining in from Cornwall – or walking with me on those occasions that we can meet.
Here are some photos to get us going – I managed between 45 – 48 miles a month in the first 3 months and then last month nearly 70 miles! But really I need to be doing about 100 miles a month from now on…..eek!
January – Snow on The Cheviots
St Abbs in February – not so dark but pretty cold! March – Walking in Funchal!
So …… having said all that – Ms B and I have just had a lovely few days in The Cotswolds……and you’ll be hearing about that next.
And next weekend Mr M will be at Art@Ancrum in the Scottish Borders – https://www.artatancrum.org.uk/ with his amazing quirky ceramics – so if you’re local or visiting – drop in and say hello!
Well! Can you believe what’s going on? It seems we suddenly have a whole new vocabulary – lockdown, sheltering in place, social distancing..etc. It’s all a bit of a shock isn’t it? I don’t know about you but I’m finding it better to keep away from social media and to stop constantly listening to the news.
The view from here….
So I thought as I’m lucky enough to live in this lovely place, I’d share some stuff from my local rambles. I might share some old photos as well, seeing as I haven’t been here for a while. And I might even share some other stuff….I’ll see.
Down the road is a field that is more often than not, flooded. Geese and seagulls love it, occasionally an oyster catcher drops by, and quite often the lapwings feed there:
Lapwings on a local piece of wetland
There’s a flock of lapwings always gliding around a bit further away at the top of the hill – such a lovely sound they make when they’re together in the air. I guess these are the same ones come down for lunch – but who knows? They may not be. A group of lapwings is actually called a Deceit – A Deceit of Lapwings. I looked it up – it comes from the birds’ use of diversionary tactics when they have young in the nest. There’s even a poem called ‘A Deceit of Lapwings’ by David Underdown (https://www.davidunderdown.co.uk/a-deceit-of-lapwings).
I love lapwings, I love the way they swoop and ‘rollercoaster’ in the sky and when they’re on the ground they’re so funny and proud with their crested heads bobbing about. And their song which you can hear on the RSPB website is very distinctive, they are sometimes known as peewits because of their call. (https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/lapwing/).
Lapwings are on the red list – their numbers were noticed to have declined significantly in the early 1900s due to their eggs being collected for food. The Lapwing Act in 1926 helped them to recover a bit but by the 1940s changes in farming practices caused them to decline again. Cultivation of arable land adds to nesting failures and crop growth shortens the nesting season.
To be honest we didn’t actually see any Lapwings today on our walk, except in the far distance swooping over their usual field. We did see yellowhammers, skylarks, and a buzzard. It was a good day for a stroll – no wind. It’s windy here on most days so its lovely to be able to get out without being blown along or dodging falling branches!
There are plenty of lambs about now of course, we have some in the field next door, six black and white lambs born to Zwartble ewes:
Today we walked past these amazing rams:
I think these might be Valais Blacknose sheep originating from the Swiss mountains. I’ve no idea why they are wearing coats though – maybe to keep their fleeces clean?
We saw some miniature Shetland ponies, including this little one, separated from her friends because she has laminitis – caused by eating too much and getting too fat!
We caused a good deal of excitement walking past a field of horses – they came running over obviously expecting a snack – sadly we only brought chocolate flapjacks along and we’d already eaten them!
Not so many Spring flowers to be seen here yet – but we spotted some Lesser Celandine, a type of buttercup. It grows anywhere but you shouldn’t think that because of that you can ignore it – its really important for early feeding for many insects and an important source of pollen and nectar. I spotted three bumble bees buzzing around today looking for food so these plants might be common but they are important.
And of course there are daffodils everywhere and continuing the yellow theme, the gorse is in flower!
I can’t leave out the lichen and mosses! We saw these in the woods…
And the views…
Looking across to The Cheviot Hills
Sweethope Hill
Not sure what this building is…….
Stay safe everyone – I may be back soon!
Meanwhile here’s what Mr RR has been up to:
and yet another started but not finished thing by me! 😊
St Abb’s to Pettico Wick and return via Mire Loch (3.5 miles)
The Berwickshire Coastline with Bass Rock in the far distance
(3.5 miles)
It’s me! Some recent lovely comments on my site made me decide to have another go. Walking is slow and distances are short for me at the moment which is frustrating – but when the weather is being kind, as it was on the coast today, I suppose it doesn’t matter so much if you can’t walk fast or too far!
We usually walk around St Abb’s Head from the village and return via Mire Loch, missing out Pettico Wick. Today we decided to go and have a look at this little cove starting from the National Trust Car Park just before you get to St Abb’s village and walking through the farm and out along the ‘Discovery Trail’ before diverting along the ‘Lighthouse Loop’ to the sea at Pettico Wick. It’s all really well marked, the views are lovely – ahead and looking back towards St Abb’s and Coldingham Bay.
Pettico Wick
Pettico Wick – no idea why this pretty bay is called this, apart from that an alternative name is listed by Canmore (Historic Environment Scotland) – Pettycarwick Bay – so it’s probably just got shortened over time and is now known as Pettico Wick. It’s a tiny harbour with a pier which was built so that supplies for the St Abb’s lighthouse could be landed. We didn’t venture down as there were lots of divers milling about preparing to set off on an exploration of the waters.
The coastal habitat here is a Voluntary Marine Reserve and is protected and part of a European Marine Site. Apparently there are offshore forests of dense seaweed and the area is full of a mix of Atlantic and Arctic plant and animal species. You can sometimes see dolphin here and we’ve seen a porpoise previously.
We reach the coast and walk a little way along the coast path northwards to see the thousands of guillemots nesting on the cliffs – they’re tightly packed together on the ledges. Puffins, kittiwakes and razorbills are also known to nest here but it’s hard to make them out amongst the hoard of guillemots – collective noun: A Bazaar of Guillemots – that’s just what it sounds like too! It’s unwise to get too close to the cliff edge for obvious reasons (!) but also because we know that breeding success in guillemots and kittiwakes is reduced by the presence of people, who cause the nesting birds stress (shown by raised heart rate) and a related energy loss which may lead them to desert their nests. I don’t have my real camera today so can’t get good pictures of them but here’s one I took another day!
Why do they all face the cliff instead of the sea?
We head back inland along the shore of Mire Loch passing by the reed beds (those black clouds just drifted away!)
and spotting what we thought might be a reed warbler chattering away. Looking it up in my book later though, it seems that reed warblers are rare this far north so I think it was probably a sedge warbler – it had that distinctive white stripe above his eye. They like reed beds and marshes with some trees and bushes, so its perfect for him here. This is a first for me – never seen one before! No camera!!
It’s getting warm as we head on through the wooded path and I’m beginning to wish I’d left the extra layers at home! There are plenty of insects enjoying the sunshine including this moth – known as Mother Shipton because it’s wing pattern is said to look like an old witch, you have to look at it for a long time and turn it about a bit but could be I suppose:
There are also lots of wild flowers and I’ve just got my phone which doesn’t do flowers and insects very well.
I did manage a good picture of the brightly coloured Northern Marsh-orchid which seems to be doing well here:
And have a look at the lovely Scots Pine cones and flowers:
We saw the swans nesting last time we were here – and this time they were guarding 5 cygnets from the hovering gulls. Swimming not far away was a little troop of golden-eye duck – so pretty! So needed my camera!!
There’s a steep uphill climb on the way back and I’m slowing down even more. The best way to deal with being slow I’ve found is to pretend you just wanted to take another picture:
Mr M pretending he’s looking for something on the path and not at all wondering how far behind I am!
The hills around here are full of sheep and they roam freely – or laze about – whichever takes their fancy:
He’s lovely and knows it!
At last I can drag my sore feet through the car park and down to the Old Smiddy Coffee Shop where we stop for a cup of tea and admire the nasturtiums outside of the lovely Number Four Gallery where Mr M dropped of some more arty stuff earlier today….
So there we are, I hope you enjoyed reading about this walk. I just wanted to give a trio of mentions:
to the St Abb’s Ranger who writes a blog, A Day in the (Wild) Life, which is full of lovely photos and interesting info! I notice s/he’s not posted since November last year but hopefully s/he’s just been super busy and will be back soon!
to the National Trust for Scotland for the amazing information/visitor centre at St Abb’s which is full of interesting and very useful (for me) information boards, ‘what you might see’ books and leaflets:
And to Mr M for this beautiful painting of Mire Loch – which of course we don’t get to keep – it’ll be part of his exhibition in The Robson Gallery, Halliwell House, Selkirk from 16th July and you can see it – and more – there:
Route: From Coldingham village to Coldingham Sands, along the coast path to St Abbs and back to Coldingham via the Creel Path.
Distance: 6.39km/4miles
In 616AD Aethelfrith, first King of Northumberland, was killed in battle. His family, including his daughter Æbbe fled northwards finally settling on Iona where they were converted to Christianity. Later Æbbe established a community of monks and nuns at Kirkhill – now known as St Abb’s Head.
A visit to The Gallery in the hamlet of Smailholm to preview their latest exhibition – Hive of Creativity ( http://www.kinsman-blakeceramics.co.uk ), gave us a chance to follow up with a walk to Smailholm Tower. Both are well worth the effort!
The walk to Mrs Buller’s Seat which is in the Cicerone Walker’s Guide to The Border Country begins with the following phrase: “A wistful linear stroll from Sir Walter Scott’s favoured viewpoint……”. Now, if this is ringing bells with you – you get top marks, because we started this walk once before (read about it here: In Scott’s Footsteps ) and cut it short exactly because, along the way, we discovered it was ‘linear’! So what happened this time? Continue reading →
Mr RR and I are on the local community association ‘Paths group’ which means we’re trying to get some local paths opened up around the village to encourage walkers and to allow local people access to some lovely countryside. It’s a slow process though and currently there are only a couple of routes within walking distance of the village. I took myself off along one of these today – a 4 mile circular walk along quiet roads. Sometimes you can see hares but not today – I need to get out earlier next time. Continue reading →
It’s been a while I know, but here’s another ramble…..I promise to try and pick up the pace a bit and walk more!! That’s enough about that!
This morning we followed a walk from a little book called ‘The Scottish Borders – 40 favourite walks’ by Robbie Porteous. Part of it we’ve done before and you can read about it here: The Hirsel Country Park. This walk begins in the town of Coldstream and wends its way along the banks of the River Tweed and through Dundock Woods before reaching The Hirsel. Continue reading →
I started on a new project yesterday – I do love a project! I thought I’d walk The Borders Abbeys Way and then go on and walk the other ‘ways’. There’s St Cuthbert’s Way and The Southern Upland Way and lots more I’m sure. Continue reading →
It’s slow going with the walking so far this year – life is just too busy at the moment!
Never mind, the kitchen is nearly finished at least and I’m hopeful the weather is going to improve. I’m reliably informed that daffodils are blooming in Cornwall – surely it can’t be too long before we see them up here too! However, although the snow has all gone for now – the rain is back!
Last weekend whilst the snow was still lying in parts, Mr RR and I took a 6 mile ramble along the Teviot accompanied by middle son. It was very icy underfoot and hard going in parts, but despite the need to constantly watch where my feet were going I did enjoy it.
We’ve also managed a couple of short local walks in between storms and floods but I’m itching to get out and about a bit more now. Sadly its not going to happen this week…..but watch this space, there are some keen walkers around and about and I’m hoping to join them for some exercise very soon. Continue reading →
ricketyrambler 